YummyAllergenFree

Monday, March 3, 2014

It would appear that my blogging days are coming to an end, and it has occurred to me that every time I open up my blog (and possibly forever more, when anyone finds themselves here) the last thing that I posted will be here waiting to represent my entire blog. The last thing I posted was a review. Don't get me wrong, it was a good review, but not exactly the farewell post that I had dreamed of. I started YummyAllergenFree in 2008 right after my youngest daughter's 6th birthday. I was testing cake after cake recipe in search of the perfect allergen free birthday cake, and was starting to realize that I thrived on the challenge. Once I started the blog, and started interacting with all of my readers, I knew that I had found my passion. In 2010 I finally came up with an allergen free cake that I was happy with. Another of our favorites was a giant crispy rice treat made into a cake, but I guess I didn't post that one. Well, here we are at birthday number 12. I feel good about bringing this full circle and wrapping it all up with a birthday cake, and I expect that this year's incredible ice cream cake will be a welcome greeting every time I return here looking for archived recipes (yes, I still do that, and I hope you will too). I can't thank you all enough for joining me on this journey, you have touched and enriched my life so very, very much! Okay, enough with the tears...here's to the inspiration for it all...Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Ice Cream Cake: (this is going to be rambling...I mean instructions... more than a recipe)

Prepare one package of Pamela's Chocolate Brownie Mix (available to the right in my "Amazon Favorites") as directed on the side panel for eggless chocolate cake. A note here: *Pamela's does have possible cross contamination warnings, so please read the package carefully, and/or call the company, before deciding if it is right for you. Bake in two 8" round cake pans. Put in the freezer to cool.

While the cake is cooling, soften one pint of dairy free ice cream of your choice. This time around I used Double Rainbow mint chip soy ice cream, which I had never heard of before, but it was the only mint chip I could find, and it was really good. *Double rainbow also carries cross contamination warnings. When the ice cream was soft, but not melted, we mixed a few drops of green food coloring so it would look more like traditional mint chip ice cream. If you really want to get crazy and make your own ice cream, speedbumpkitchen's ice cream shoppe is one of my favorite resources.

Lay one cake round on your platter. If you are going to be decorating it and want you platter to be clean, lay strips of waxed paper just under the edges of the cake. The frosting will get on the paper instead of the plate, and then the paper strips can be slid out and thrown away when you are finished. Make sure ice cream is soft but stiff. refreeze a little if necessary. Spread the ice cream on the cake, spreading evenly, and all the way to the edges. Place the other cake round on top of that and press down just a bit. Use an icing spatula or a butter knife to smooth the ice cream around the edges of the cake and give you nice flat sides. Pop the cake back in the freezer for about an hour.

We frosted our cake with Betty Crocker's whipped white frosting, then decorated it using my buttercream frosting recipe. Thank you to my daughter Amanda for the beautiful decorating job! In order to keep the colors true, we doubled the amount of palm shortening in the recipe and omitted the margarine.

That's it, put it back in the freezer until ready to serve. I was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and it was really, really good!!!

One last thing...please know that although I may not be posting new recipes (or maybe I will, who knows what the future holds), I will continue to respond to all questions and comments left on all posts, current or ancient. I would still love to hear from you! :)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I received some products to try from The Sneaky Chef. One is a smooth pasta sauce, which I haven't tried yet, but will probably be reviewing next. The other is No-Nut Butter, made from golden peas. It is exactly what it sounds like, a peanut butter substitute made with no nuts in a nut free facility. It is also free of all top 8 allergens, made with no high fructose corn syrup, no hydrogenated oils, no artificial colors or flavors, and is packaged in a BPA free jar. As if all that weren't enough, it tastes delicious! Emily has decided she likes it much better than sunbutter and has been eating it on sandwiches, ants on a log, and simply as an apple dip all week long. The flavor is a little less "nutty" than sunbutter and a little sweeter in my opinion. The texture is softer and thinner, almost like softened butter. It's definitely better for spreading on gluten free bread. Sometimes with the sunbutter I have to spread it so hard that the bread falls apart, No-Nut Butter just glides right on. We love it! That being said, there are only two minor drawbacks. The protein content is only 3 grams, not a problem for Emily, but my older daughter Nikki is a vegetarian and needs all the protein she can get. The other is that, although the flavor is perfect for sandwiches and other snacks, it got lost when I tried to make N0-Nut Butter cookies. Nikki said they taste like oatmeal cookies to her. Don't get me wrong, the cookies are REALLY good! They are soft and chewy, they just don't have an obvious nut flavor. I loved them, Emily loved them, and the neighbor up the street (who eats peanut butter, eggs, dairy, and wheat) loved them. No-Nut Butter is currently available in some East Coast Whole Foods stores, and you will find it online here at netgrocer. Now, on to the cookie recipe...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, using a whisk, mix together the flours, starches, xanthan gum, baking soda, and baking powder, and set aside.

In a mixing bowl cream the margarine and No-Nut butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugars and beat until combined, scraping down the sides as needed. Beat in the egg replacer and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture, about 1/3 at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition.

Shape the dough into 2 inch balls, or cheat like I did and use a small spring action ice cream scoop. Place balls 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten by making crisscross marks with the tines of a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. They should stay soft and fresh in an airtight container for about 5 days.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

I have tried a lot of pancake recipes. Some of them I invented, some of them I borrowed, none of them spectacular...until now. I found this pancake recipe at Cinnamon Quill and the author was kind enough to allow me to re-post it. These are hands down the best gluten free vegan pancakes I have ever had! I had to play with my measurements a little, and my pictures aren't nearly as beautiful as hers, but both of my girls LOVE them hot off the griddle, or microwaved from a frozen state. I added some personal notes into the recipe as to what changes I made. Also, if you check out Cinnamon Quill's original recipe, she includes some helpful troubleshooting tips of her own. Enjoy! :)

PANCAKES:1 1/4 c Non-dairy milk
1 t Cider vinegar
1 Eggs worth of Ener-G Egg Replacer
1/4 c Canola or safflower oil
2 t Vanilla extract
Oil for pan
1/2 c Rice flour
1/2 c Millet flour
3/4 c Tapioca flour
1/4 c Brown sugar
3/4 t Xanthan gum
1 t Baking powder
3/4 t Baking soda
Tiny pinch salt
Up to ¾ c of water (reserved)In a medium mixing bowl, stir together wet ingredients. Whisk in dry ingredients, making sure there are no big lumps of flour. At this point, look at the thickness of your batter, it should be only slightly thicker than standard pancake batter. If needed, mix in a little water at a time, until desired consistency is reached. I added the full ¾ of a cup of water, but I think it is because I used soy milk (the thickest of the alternative milks), and white rice flour instead of brown rice flour.
Preheat skillet or griddle; brush with a very light layer of oil or cooking spray. Let batter stand 3-5 minutes, if it thickens too much you can still add more water. Keep in mind that thinner batter equals thinner pancakes.

Using a ladle or ice cream scoop, pour batter by the scant 1/4 cup onto the hot pan. Cook until edges look set and there are little bubbles on the surface of the cake. Flip and cook 30-60 seconds more, until bottom is golden. If you are using a non-stick skillet, you may need to lower the heat quite a bit.

Halfway through, you may need to refresh the oil on the pan, depending what kind of pan you are using.

Because they are thick, these pancakes may take a bit longer to cook, be patient, and do a test pancake to determine exact cooking time.

Friday, March 29, 2013

OK, so they're a little lumpy...it's a work in progress. Emily saw the commercial for Easter themed rice crispy treats and had this great idea. Every year we debate weather to dye eggs in this house, since half the family is allergic to eggs.The fun, however, is not in eating them but in decorating them. Since we can touch the shells without incident, we usually dye eggs and then Daddy has to eat them all. "Well", Emily said, "why don't we make rice crispy eggs and cover them in white icing so they look like real eggs, then we can decorate them!" We had so much fun!!! I think we all agreed it was even more fun than decorating real eggs. Just be sure to use edible substances for decorating. We used colored icing (just powdered sugar, water, and food color), candy sprinkles, and Paas Color Snaps which look like Q tips (kind of a rip off though, as 1 package was only enough to color about 4 eggs).

Wash and dry the plastic eggs before you start. Use margarine or oil to grease the insides of the eggs.

Melt margarine in a large pot over low heat. Add marshmallows and continually stir until they are completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add cereal. Mix until cereal is fully coated.

Using greased hands, take a plastic egg and pack as much cereal mixture as you can into each side. Close the egg until it is snapped shut and continue to hold it firmly closed for a few seconds, until you can let go without it popping open. Move on to the next egg. This is a great family project, the more hands involved, the faster it will go. (optionally, you can simply form the eggs by hand, but I didn't seem to possess the skill required for this) While your eggs set up, prepare the icing.

SUGAR ICING (dries fairly hard):

6 c Sifted powdered sugar

6 T Water

1/4 c Corn syrup

Mix powdered sugar and water until smooth. Stir in corn syrup. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Lay out a wire cooling rack with foil or plastic wrap underneath to minimize the mess. Remove crispy treats from plastic eggs and dip them one at a time into the icing. Coat each egg fully, shake off excess icing, then place it on the wire rack to dry. They will take 5 hours or more to harden completely. Now decorate your "eggs". Have fun and HAPPY EASTER!!!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

It seems like every year we have less and less time for the fun crafty things at Christmas. These were our quick fix answer to "gingerbread" houses. We used Kinnikinnick's S'moreables Graham Style Crackers (these do carry the warning "may contain eggs" because they are made in a facility that uses eggs, but we have never had a problem with them). They are very small, the finished houses are only about 2 ro 3 inches tall. Also, we found that cutting the squares with a knife, rather than trying to break them, gave us cleaner lines. We assembled the houses with the thick version of my egg-free royal icing and let them harden for about an hour. Then I made a thinner version of the icing and added some food coloring (we were out of red). I found some Skittles in the cabinet, so we threw those on too...these were the epitome of a last minute, "let's see what we have in the cabinet", fun, Christmas project. I hope everyone is having a wonderful, beautiful holiday season... full of love and joy (but free of allergens)!!!

Oh, I almost forgot...
Picked this up at the GoodWill the other day and thought I would share it :)

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The leaves are changing color, the weather is damp and dreary...it feels like time for a warm bowl of chili! My chili (as with most of my recipes) is child friendly. That is to say that, although it has onions and tomatoes in it, they are blended in so the kids can't pick them out and say "I don't like these". This chili is vegan, although, as you can see here, we sprinkled a little cheese on it for Nikki who does do dairy. A wonderful vegan cheese alternative, however, is Daiya Cheddar Shreds. My mother has become obsessed with this stuff, It's really good! Unfortunately, Emily fell in love with Vegan Rella a long time ago (which as far as I can tell has gone out of business), and she has never liked any cheese alternative since. We paired our chili with a delicious sweet cornbread. The base recipe can be found here with Karina The Gluten Free Goddess. We, however, left out the green chilies and drizzled a little honey over the top before baking for a sweeter version. It's also really good with gluten free tortilla chips. Yum!

Put all of the ingredients except for black beans in a large pot and simmer for half an hour. Remove bay leaves. Combine this mixture with 1/2 a can of black beans in a blender and blend well. Pour back into the pot. Add remaining 2 1/2 cans of black beans and simmer for another hour or so, stirring frequently, until liquid is reduced to desired consistency. If your chili gets too thick you can simply stir in a little water, about 1/4 cup at a time, until it looks good again. Super simple...super delicious!!! Enjoy!

Friday, August 31, 2012

How many EpiPens have you had to purchase and then discard over the years? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we didn't have to use ours. Still, I have 3 girls, times one two pack of Epipens per year of school, times 12 years of school each...that adds up! Mylan has started a program to pay for school-use-only Epipens, and I am so happy, and so very, very thankful for this, I wanted to share it with everyone! I don't have time to write a formal post, so I have copied and pasted the press release below. To get your free Epipens just follow one of the links below, print the paperwork, get a prescription from your doctor. Take it all in to your child's school, explain it to them, and they can do the rest. The Epipens will be mailed directly to the school. HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL EVERYONE!!! :)

Through
EpiPen4SchoolsTM Program, Mylan Helps Schools Better Prepare For
Students With Life-Threatening Allergies

BASKING RIDGE,
N.J., Aug. 14, 2012 -- Mylan
Specialty L.P., the fully-integrated specialty pharmaceutical business of Mylan
Inc. (Nasdaq: MYL), today announced the EpiPen4SchoolsTM program.
This effort offers four free EpiPen® or EpiPen Jr® (epinephrine) Auto-Injectors
upon qualification, which includes having a valid prescription, to public and
private kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools in the U.S. The
products will be available in the form of two EpiPen 2-Pak® cartons, two EpiPen Jr 2-Pak®cartons or one 2-Pak of each kind. For complete
details, visit www.EpiPen4Schools.com.

The
EpiPen4Schools program is designed to help schools have
improved access to epinephrine in the event a person experiences an anaphylactic
reaction at school. This access is important because epinephrine is the only
first-line treatment for life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis),
which can occur quickly and without warning. According to the food allergy
guidelines developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, if experiencing anaphylaxis, a person
should use an epinephrine auto-injector and seek immediate emergency medical
attention. Carrying an epinephrine auto-injector does not prevent patients from
having an anaphylactic reaction; hence, patients must remain vigilant of their
environment at all times.

“Anaphylaxis
is a public health problem and a major safety issue in our nation’s schools,”
said Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan. “The EpiPen4Schools
program underscores Mylan Specialty’s commitment to helping schools become more
aware of the risks of anaphylaxis and become better prepared to respond during
an emergency. Each school should have a comprehensive anaphylaxis action plan in
place that emphasizes avoidance of the allergen. The plan also should include
awareness of the risks, preparedness for an emergency and access to epinephrine
and immediate medical care.”

Anaphylaxis causes
approximately 1,500 deaths annually, and children and adolescents are among
those most at risk. Schools nationwide have made efforts to reduce exposure to
allergens in the school environment—a critical first step in managing the risk
of life-threatening allergic reactions. While
practicing allergen avoidance is imperative, accidental contact can still happen, which is why it is important that epinephrine is
accessible.

“As the prevalence of
food allergies increases, now affecting an estimated one in 13 U.S. children, so
does the importance for schools to be prepared with an action plan in the event
of potentially life-threatening allergic reactions,” said John Lehr, CEO of the Food Allergy
& Anaphylaxis Network/Food Allergy Initiative. “For the millions of children
in the U.S. with potentially life-threatening allergies it is critically
important for schools to have epinephrine auto-injectors on hand to treat
anaphylaxis should it occur.”

EpiPen4Schools aims
to provide EpiPen Auto-Injectors so they may be available not only to the
students and school personnel who are known to be at risk, but also to those who
are determined to be at increased risk.

For this reason,
Mylan Specialty encourages each school to develop a comprehensive anaphylaxis
action plan, so that students, teachers and school
employees:

·Understand the risk
of anaphylaxis

·Avoid allergic
triggers

·Recognize the signs
and symptoms

·Are prepared with
access to epinephrine auto-injectors (two doses)

·Know to seek
emergency medical care following administration of treatment

About
Anaphylaxis

Anaphylaxis is a
life-threatening allergic reaction that has many possible triggers, occurs
quickly, without warning, and must be treated immediately with epinephrine.
Symptoms may include hives or redness of the skin, tightness in the throat,
nausea, dizziness, breathing problems, a decrease in blood pressure and/or
fainting. Anaphylaxis can be caused by triggers such as food, stinging and
biting insects, medicines, latex or even exercise. Epinephrine is the only
first-line treatment for anaphylaxis. According to
the food allergy guidelines developed by the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, if experiencing anaphylaxis, a person should use an
epinephrine auto-injector and seek immediate emergency medical attention.
Epinephrine is a naturally-occurring hormone, also known as adrenaline,
and it should be available at all times to patients at risk. Failure to
administer epinephrine early in the course of treatment has been repeatedly
implicated with anaphylaxis fatalities.

About the
EpiPen4Schools Program

To participate in
EpiPen4Schools, a school nurse or other authorized school representative must
visit www.EpiPen4Schools.com to download the order and certification
form, then fax or email the form with a valid prescription to 1-973-718-4328 or
info@bioridgepharma.com.
Alternately, school representatives can call 1-973-845-7600 to speak with a live
representative.

In addition to the
EpiPen4Schools program, Mylan Specialty offers a discount program through which
schools can purchase, upon qualification, EpiPen 2-Pak (0.3 mg) cartons and
EpiPen Jr 2-Pak (0.15 mg) cartons at a discounted price.

About
EpiPen® Auto-Injector

EpiPen Auto-Injectors
are used for the emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic reactions.
Each EpiPen 2-Pak contains two single auto-injectors, instructions for use and a
training device, with no drug product or needle, to help patients become
familiar with the administration technique. EpiPen Auto-Injector should be
administered immediately at the first sign of an anaphylactic reaction. EpiPen
Auto-Injector is not a substitute for emergency medical treatment.Patients should call 911 and seek emergency medical attention immediately
following administration. For more information about EpiPen Auto-Injector,
please visit www.epipen.com.

Important Safety
Information

EpiPen Auto-Injectors
contain a single dose of epinephrine, which you inject into your outer thigh. DO
NOT INJECT INTRAVENOUSLY. DO NOT INJECT INTO YOUR BUTTOCK, as this may not be
effective. In case of accidental injection, please seek immediate medical
treatment. Epinephrine should be used with caution if you have heart disease or
are taking certain medicines that can cause heart-related (cardiac)
symptoms.

If you take certain
medicines, you may develop serious life-threatening side effects from the
epinephrine in EpiPen Auto-Injectors. Be sure to tell your
doctor all the medicines you take, especially medicines for asthma. Side effects
may be increased in patients with certain medical conditions, or who take
certain medicines. These include asthma, allergies, depression, thyroid disease,
Parkinson's disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

The most common side
effects may include increase in heart rate, stronger or irregular heartbeat,
sweating, nausea and vomiting, difficulty breathing, paleness, dizziness,
weakness or shakiness, headache, apprehension, nervousness or anxiety. These
side effects usually go away quickly, especially if you rest.

Indications

EpiPen®
(epinephrine) 0.3 mg and EpiPen Jr® (epinephrine) 0.15 mg
Auto-Injectors are for the emergency treatment of life-threatening allergic
reactions (anaphylaxis) caused by allergens, exercise, or unknown triggers; and
for people who are at increased risk for these reactions. EpiPen and EpiPen Jr
are intended for immediate self-administration as emergency supportive therapy
only. Seek immediate emergency medical treatment after use.

Mylan Specialty, a
subsidiary of Mylan Inc. (Nasdaq: MYL), is a specialty pharmaceutical company
focused on the development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription drug
products for the treatment of respiratory diseases, life-threatening allergic
reactions and psychiatric disorders. The company puts patients first and
facilitates efficient, cost-effective partnerships with customers. For more
information, please visit www.mylanspecialty.com.

About
Mylan

Mylan is a global
pharmaceutical company committed to setting new standards in health care.
Working together around the world to provide 7 billion people access to high
quality medicine, we innovate to satisfy unmet needs; make reliability and
service a habit, do what's right, not what's easy and impact the future through
passionate global leadership. We offer a growing portfolio of more than 1,100
generic pharmaceuticals and several brand medications. In addition, we offer a
wide range of antiretroviral therapies, upon which approximately one-third of
HIV/AIDS patients in developing countries depend. We also operate one of the
largest active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturers and currently market
products in approximately 150 countries and territories. Our workforce of more
than 18,000 people is dedicated to improving the customer experience and
increasing pharmaceutical access to consumers around the world. But don't take
our word for it. See for yourself. See inside. mylan.com

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Plentils are a wonderful new chip/cracker from Enjoy Life that are made from lentils. These things are amazing! I really don't know where to start. First of all, I am always baffled when companies make dairy flavored products with no dairy. Plentils come in four flavors: light sea salt, margherita pizza, garlic and parmesan, and dill and sour cream...all dairy free! That's just the beginning though, Plentils are free of all top 8 allergens. I should also mention that they have 40% less fat than regular potato chips (we don't really watch our fat around here, but I know it's important to others). I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to describe the texture of these chips. They are light, airy, and crispy...puffed, with little air pockets...very slightly reminiscent of pork rinds. They are hands down one of the best textured gluten free cracker/chip type snacks I've ever had! The other thing that I absolutely love is that they have intense flavor. I have mentioned before how frustrated I get every time we try a new gluten free cracker and find out that it also seems to be salt free. Why can't celiacs have salt??? These four flavors are all salty and delicious, eating them actually feels indulgent. Wow, I just read over this post and am slightly embarrassed by my obvious love of fat and salt, I might as well go all the way and let you know we eat a lot of sugar too. :) Well, anyway, all the more reason why I should be eating healthier snacks like this. Right?

Thursday, May 3, 2012

This meal just screamed summer time outdoor picnic to me...but today it's raining. Fortunately it tasted just as good indoors. I set the crock pot before I went to work. When I got home and picked Emily up from school the pork was ready to be shredded. I showed Emily how to do it and let her take it from there. She REALLY enjoyed it! I think this is her new favorite meal. My original recipe for hamburger buns is HERE , but I made them with Bob's Red Mill gluten free bread mix this time. We have also recently discovered Udi's gluten free buns. They contain eggs, so Emily can't have them, but Nikki can have eggs and Udi's is the first bread she has enjoyed since going gluten free 3 years ago. Also, if you want to skip the buns altogether, we found that Emily actually preferred to just eat the BBQ pork straight out of the bowl. Enjoy! :)

Pour broth, BBQ sauce, and liquid smoke into the crock pot and mix well. Add your meat and flip it around a little bit until it is coated with the sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove cover and use two forks to pull and shred the meat. Stir the shredded meat and sauce together. If the sauce is too watery, leave the lid off, turn the crock pot up to high, and cook for another 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until it reaches your desired consistency.
Serve as sandwiches or as a main course, it's also very good over rice!

Put cabbage and carrots in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix remaining ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Pour the dressing over the cabbage and carrots and mix well. Refrigerate for an hour or so to let the flavors combine. Salt and pepper to taste.

Another thought (I've never tried this, but I've seen it on TV), you might want to pile your sandwich up with BOTH pulled pork AND coleslaw...they say it's really good. :)

Saturday, March 31, 2012

You are looking at the Grand Prize Winner of the Surf Sweets Jelly Bean Blogger Bake-Off! Can you believe it??? I'm still in shock. The Surf Sweets organic candy company invited 16 food allergy bloggers to enter their organic (and allergen free) jelly bean bake off, and they got 16 amazing enteries...just in time for Easter! Following is my recipe for Surf Sweets Spring Mix Jelly Bean Scones. If you would like to see the other delicious entries, you will find them at http://www.surfsweets.com/imgs/contestwinners.pdf

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix together milk alternative and lemon juice to create a “buttermilk” . Set aside.

3. Put the sorghum flour, millet flour, tapioca starch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, salt, and lemon zest in a large bowl. Stir with a dry whisk until combined. Using a pastry cutter, two knives, or mashing with a whisk, cut in the margarine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the Surf Sweets Organic Jelly Beans.Add vanilla extract to milk alternative and lemon juice. Pour 1/4 cup of this “buttermilk” mix into the dry ingredients to make a dough. Stir until just moistened, add the rest of the liquid if needed. Gently knead dough 2 or 3 times until it holds together.

4. Using millet or sorghum floured hands, gather the dough into a cohesive ball and transfer to the lined baking sheet. Pat into a 1/2" thick circle. Using a floured knife, cut the dough into 4 wedges, pulling them apart slightly.

5. Bake 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 5 minutes.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

I tried to put a link to the book here, but it's not working. If you would like to order The Healthy Gluten-Free Life online through Amazon at a discount you can use my link in my "Amazon Favorites", just look to the right of this post and scroll down (or up) a little bit as needed. It is also available through Barnes and Noble. I know I have given good reviews to cookbooks before, but this one I have been waiting for with great anticipation! The Celiac Maniac was a local bakery that made gluten free/vegan goodies, and their english muffins were outstanding. Unfortunately they had to go out of business, but there is a silver lining. Tammy Credicott (the wife of "The Maniac") wrote this cookbook, The Healthy Gluten-Free Life ...and the english muffin recipe is in it! I asked Tammy if I could post a recipe from the book and she said yes, so of course I knew exactly which one I was going to post (yes, the english muffins!). Then she brought me the book. I started looking through it and, oh my goodness, EVERYTHING looked so good! This is a thick book, full of beautiful color photographs. It contains 200 recipes for breakfasts, main dishes, side dishes, sauces and dressings, lots of yummy baked goods, and drinks. All of the recipes are gluten free, dairy free, and egg free. There are a few recipes with soy and/or nuts, but for the most part they are easily omitted, and when they can't be omitted Tammy gives suggestions for substitutions. The first 43 pages are full of stories, guidance, and lots of essential information including a wonderfully simple guide to the textures and flavors of gluten free flours, egg and dairy replacements, and nutritional info on the foods we cook with. This is a great book for anyone just starting on the allergen free journey and for those of us who still want to learn more. Well, after reading through this book cover to cover, and looking at all of these mouth watering pictures, I came to a decision...you will have to buy the book for the English muffin recipe and all the other great recipes in it...I had to make the Ginger Lime Chicken Bites first. The picture in the book kept calling to me (on that note, sorry my picture is so dark, I had lighting issues). We served our chicken bites over Thai Kitchen Stir-Fry Rice Noodles. It was everything I had hoped for, Emily and I gobbled it up and it was soooo good!!! So without further adieu, here is the recipe:

1. Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken. Cook chicken, stirring occasionally, until browned and almost done. About 5 minutes.3.Add sauce to skillet, turn heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for another 5 minutes, or until chicken pieces are cooked through.4. Serve with rice or rice noodles, if desired. Top chicken bites with chopped green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

OK, so, I am borrowing pictures from the Ejoy Life website because I wasn't able to get a picture of my Not Nuts fruit and seed mixes before they were ripped open and eaten up. Not Nuts has been around for a while, but their packaging recently received a makover-this is what the colorful new bags look like. I almost felt guilty receiving free samples of the Not Nuts mixes for my review, because I not only have already tried them, but I buy them all the time. We LOVE them! The girls, my mother, and I took a trip to San Francisco last summer and we practically lived on these between meals. I never travel without them! These "trail mixes" are made in a dedicated nut and gluten free facility. They are free of all of the top 8 allergens, they are also free of casein, potato, and sesame, and they contain no sulfites!!! Amazing stuff :)There are two flavors:Beach Bash is made with Raw Sunflower Kernels, Dried Pineapple, Roasted Hulled Pumpkin Seeds (Sunflower Oil, Citric Acid, Salt), Dried Cranberries, and Dried Apricots. Beach Bash is my favorite!

Friday, January 6, 2012

First of all I need to apologize to the wonderful people at Enjoy life, they sent these cookies for me to review a month ago, and I am just now getting around to it. The cookies were delicious, so sadly all I have left to take a picture of are empty boxes. Now I have mentioned many times before that I am not a crunchy cookie kind of girl. For this reason I tried to get my girls to head up this review for me, but all I could get out of them is " I don't know, they're all so good!" It's speaks highly of the cookies, but not very descriptive. So, at this point, I decided to try them myself.When I did get around to trying them theDouble Chocolate Cookie and the Chocolate Chip Cookies were already gone. I assume this either means that these were the preferred flavors or that my kids are chocoholics (highly possible). I tried the two that were left. My favorite of these two was the Sugar Crisp, although the Vanilla Honey Graham would be PERFECT for making s'mores. Texturally I can tell these are a gluten free cookies, they do have that slight tell tale grittiness, but if you are used to eating gluten free you won't even notice it. The flavors, however, are amazing! With many allergen free cookies all you taste is sugar. The new Enjoy Life Crunchy Cookies have wonderfully full and complex flavors. Even the sugar cookie didn't just taste sweet...it tasted like a sugar cookie. All four flavors were definitely a thumbs up. We also discovered that any one of these cookies makes an awesome "ice cream" sandwich!I am so glad to see that Enjoy Life seems to be blossoming as a company. I have seen a few good allergen free companies come and go in recent years. Enjoy life is still expanding, and I am even finding it in my less expensive everyday grocery stores now. How great is it not to have to travel 15 miles out of your way to pick up a box of chocolate chips cookies, or worse yet pay double what they're worth in shipping charges?! To the Enjoy Life company...Thank you for this opportunity to review your products and I hope to see more and more from you in many years to come! :)

Friday, December 9, 2011

As usual, I have no time to make or post anything new, but I thought at the very least I could re-post my egg free royal icing recipe. I don't think I could live without it this time of year. I hope it comes in handy for others in need too. I hope you all are having a very, very wonderful holiday season!!! :) And here's the recipe...

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

I had not planned to post this, it was an afterthought really. The rest of the family is having cheesecake for dessert on Thanksgiving and Emily asked for cherry pie. I was already using my 9" pie pan for the cheesecake, so we made her two mini pies in small ramekins. Again, I wasn't going to mention the pies here, but when we finished making them I stepped back and looked at them...they were adorable! They were so beautiful I HAD to get a picture! Then of course I thought "I have a picture, I might as well post it". The picture doesn't do them justice though. Maybe the holidays are making me overly emotional, but these doggone things were so cute I almost cried!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press your pie crust evenly into the ramekins. If you have any leftover crust you can cut designs for the top. This was my first ever lattice top...maybe THAT'S why I was so proud!(?) Fill crusts to 1/2" below the top. Crimp or decorate the tops as desired. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet in case your filling boils over. Bake until tops are golden. My pies have all varied from 50 minutes to one hour. These ones baked for 55 minutes.

I hope you all have a truly beautiful Thankgiving full of family, friends, and fabulous foods!!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

I was so excited when I heard about Enjoy Life's new Mega Chunks, but then I couldn't find them in my local store. Then Enjoy Life contacted me and asked if I would like to review them and I said oh yes, yes! For the record, they also sent me a bag of their new chocolate granola to review. It tastes wonderful! I've always enjoyed the flavors of Enjoy Life granolas, but I have a problem with the texture. I am not a crunchy person, and they are definitely harder than oat based granolas. However, if you are the kind of person who loves snacking on corn nuts, like my mother, then you should definitely give it a try. Now back to the Mega Chunks. They are wonderful little chocolate chunks, about the size of half a Tootsie Roll, and have so much potential that I had a hard time deciding what to do with them first (besides eating them straight out of the bag, which we also did). Remember, they are free of all top 8 allergens, Kosher, and have no trans fats or artificial ingredients...not to mention delicious! Meanwhile, I had a brown banana calling my name and two girls in need of cookies, so was born the banana oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie. :)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
Whisk together oat flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. Cream together margarine and brown sugar. Add vanilla and banana. Mix well, scraping sides and bottom of bowl to make sure all margarine is incorporated. Blend in the flour mix. Add oats, and stir for 1 more minute.
Drop cookies on parchment lined cookie sheet by large tablespoons (or using a small spring action ice cream scoop like I did). Press one Mega Chunk deep into the center of each cookie (they tend to rise back out a bit when baking).
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. The chocolate chunks take about an hour to harden back up, so if you are going to be stacking your cookies for storage, you may want to refrigerate them for a few minutes first.
These cookies were really delicious, and possibly bordering on healthy. I can't wait to try another recipe with this chocolate...maybe the blondie recipe on the back of the bag. Yum!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

I am reviewing a new cookbook this week, The Allergy Free Cook Bakes Bread. It is available HERE on Amazon for only $11.54! If you are new to gluten free cooking this book will be a lifesaver. When I first started this allergen free endeaver, (oh gosh, has it been 10 years ago already?), I bought an allergy cookbookbook that had a comprehensive list of gluten free flours and their properties and I could not have ever come this far without it. The problem is that there are more flours available now than there were 10 years ago, so many of the new flours were not included in my first book. The allergy Free Cook Bakes Bread not only has an extensive list of flours, but also a wonderful guide to dairy replacements, and egg replacements! I really do believe this is a must-have book! Now, as I have been writing this my Chocolate Chip Scones from this book have been baking. In the time it took for me to take and upload a picture...they are gone! In other words, I would buy this book just for the information it provides, but as a bonus the recipes are amazing too! :) Included are recipes for quick breads, yeast breads, scones, tortillas, bagels, focaccia, and more. I want to thank Laurie Sadowski for sending me a copy of this book!!! I let Emily decide which recipe we should make first and review, and this was her choice:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Mix together soy milk and vinegar. Set aside.Put the sorghum flour, quinoa flour, tapioca starch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt in a large bowl. Stir with a dry whisk until combined. Using a pastry cutter or two knives (or mashing with a whisk like I do), cut in the margarine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips.Pour 1/4 cup of the soy milk and vinegar mixture (vegan buttermilk, for which the recipe is also in this book) into the flour mixture to make a dough and stir until just moistened, add the rest if needed. Using floured hands, gather the dough into a cohesive ball and transfer to the lined baking sheet. Gently knead dough 2 or 3 times until it holds together. Pat into a 1/2" thick circle. (At this point I sprinkled a little sugar on top because we like sweet.) Using a floured knife cut the dough into 4 wedges, pulling them apart only slightly.Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve warm. ( Ours were definitly served warm, the house smelled like chocolate chip cookies and the kids came running!)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

I thought these would make great little take-along pies for Emily's school lunches, that was the plan anyway.I guess I didn't really think it through, because we made them on Friday and the recipe only made five pies, so of course by Monday when I went to pack her lunch they were all gone. Oh well, at least I know they were good! By the way, if anyone knows the name for this type of pie (mini, with the filling enclosed in crust) please tell me. I know that they have a name which is escaping me and it's driving me crazy!

In a large bowl with a wire whisk blend all dry ingredients. Cut in vegetable shortening until particles are the size of small peas (most recipes say to use a pastry cutter or two knives, I actually use my whisk in a potato masher sort of way, alternating between stirring and mashing until the desired consistancy is reached). Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry dough holds together when shaped into a ball with hands (1 to 2 teaspoons additional water can be added if necessary). Flatten into a rectangle and chill dough for at least an hour.

Stir all the ingredients together in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender-crisp and the liquid has reduced to a syrupy coating. let the apples cool before handling them.

ASSEMBLY:I guess I should have taken pictures, but I think it's pretty easy to understand. Take the dough out and allow it to rest at room temperature for a few minutes. Roll it into a rectangle 40"x 20", using sweet rice flour for dusting if necessary. Cut into 10 rectangles, each 4"x 2".Line a baking pan with parchment paper.For each pie, lay one rectangle on the parchment paper. Then lay a mound of apple filling down the center, leaving acout 1/4" of crust open around the entire perimeter. Lay another rectangle of crust on top, lining up the edges, stretching a little if needed. If dough tears, it can be mended with a little pinching (if it won't stick, wet your fingers with a little water). Crimp all around the outside edges with a fork or crimping tool. Try to keep the thickness of the crimped edges about the same as the original thickness of the crust, in other words, around the edges the two layers should now be pressed to the same thickness as one layer would be. If you make it too thin the edges will burn.

TOPPING: (optional)Brush tops of pies with a very thin mix of powdered sugar and water. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon sugar.

BAKE:Preheat oven to 350. Cut slits or designs into the top of each pie. Bake approximately 50 minutes. I checked mine at 45 minutes and they were not done. I cooked them for 60 minutes and they were a little crunchier than I would have liked. So, I'm thinking 50 minutes is a good time, but I haven't tried it yet. When I get around to making these again I will come back and revise this part.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

This isn't really a formal post. It has just occured to me that I need help and information, and I have this forum to put my plea out into the world wide web, and I have found myself with a few minutes to write. I posted a while back about my daughter Amanda and her diagnoses of Eosinophilic Esophagitis. We now think the EE is actually a reaction to the fact that she is constantly regurgitating. Every single day she gets up and has something to eat, then as soon as she is done eating, and continuously for the rest of the day, her food comes back up one small mouthful at a time. She simply swallows it back down and goes about her day, it is so constant that there really is no other option. Also, every time she eats, her stomach gets hard and swollen, but she showes no outward signs of having gas. We finally ended up at a GI who looked at her multitude of tests for her tummy troubles and said "I've been doing this for 15 years and I've never seen this before, I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you". Huh??? We need answers!!! So, we went online and started Googling all of her symptoms, and WE found the answer. She has Human Rumination Syndrome. Unfortunately it is a "syndrome" and not a disease, so no pill or quick fix. We found a biofeedback breathing technique here http://www.healingbridge.com/articles/articles-biofeedback.htm that actually seems to help keep her food down but it's almost impossible to do as constantly as she needs to and still live a normal life, and when I tried to make an appointment with them they said they don't deal in her condition and refused us.I doubt that any of my regular readers know anything about this condition, but again it is my hope that by putting this on the internet maybe someone out there who is just searching key words will see this and have some information, or input, or ANYTHING. It can't hurt to try. Right? I welcome any comments, thoughts, suggestions, and stories. Thank you!For my regular readers, I really do plan to start posting more recipes again soon...I really do! :)

Friday, July 1, 2011

Well, we have probably all noticed that I don't seem to have time to create new recipes anymore, but I do find myself drawing on other great bloggers recipes from time to time. My daughter was craving lemon poppy seed muffins recently and in searching for a gluten free version I discovered Nicole at Gluten Free On A Shoestring, and I am so glad I did! Here is the link to her recipe for GF muffins (which do contain dairy and eggs) http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/lemon-poppyseed-muffin-love . Nicole uses a flour blend called Better Batter which I am planning to try in the near future. I didn't have any flour blends on hand so I used one of my usual combos, but there are so many blends out there right now, and you can certainly substitute 2 cups of your favorite blend for the first 5 ingredients in my recipe (also leave out the xanthan gum if your blend already contains it). These muffins are incredible, even without eggs and dairy!

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, place the flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and poppy seeds, and mix to combine. These are the dry ingredients. You want the lemon zest and poppy seeds to be coated in dry ingredients so they don’t clump together in the batter. Set the bowl aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Add the egg replacer, soy yogurt, vanilla extract, and lemon juice, beating well to combine after each addition. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and beat well until the batter becomes thicker and a bit more elastic.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 cups of the muffin tin. Place the muffin tin in the center of the preheated oven, and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

We also drizzled a little icing over ours, made from powdered sugar and lemon juice.

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About Me

Hi, I am the proud mom of 3 perfect girls with food allergies. Our combined allergies are: peanuts and tree nuts(ana), wheat/gluten, dairy, eggs, beef, lamb, garlic, mustard, cantaloupe, and bananas.
One of my daughters is also a vegetarian. I live in an area where there are no support groups for people with food allergies and I know there are many of you out there in the same situation. I am hoping this will be my forum to share some stories, share some recipes, and undoubtedly…at some point…do some venting. Thank you for joining me!